The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-03-16
CUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WASHINGTON. Mar

washington, Mar. III tn, 1887.
Although the marble halls of the
Capitol were deserted by our law
makers q week ago, many of them
still linger in Washington, and will
c~0ntinurc here for months to come.
The Northern Representatives are
loath to leave the mild climate of
the Capital at this season Of the
year, and are always disposed to
remain here, S until, as one
of them remarked, it thaws out at
home.
The air is still full of extra session
talk. Democratic members Of Con-
gross and others who have means
Of knowledge on the subject, do not
now believe that the Fiftieth Con-
grcs5 will be called together. soon,
but that an extra session in the
early autumn is an evil that ought
to be faced.
The House Of Representatives.
that was elected in November last,
entered upon its official existence
ON the 4th. of this month, and its
members are now under pay. TEcy
are doing 10 service and without
organization are incapable or doing
any. 1T is not until they have as
semblc, elected II speaker, and been
arranged in committees, that they
can enter upon the work of lcgisla-
ii II. If Congress does not meet
until the usual time in December,
in the light of many precedent lit
tie or nothing a be cxrected of it
until the beginning of next year,
for / 4 IS NTnll NN flNn a..
grcss has attempted to do any real
work until after the holiday recess.
An extra session is always un-
popular and the President is al X
ious, of, course, to avoid it, bnt in
order that some of the important
legislation to come up during the
ueXt year may be matured in time,
it is thought to be the only alterna-
tive. Those hose counsel is fire.
qucntly sought at the White House
now say that the contemplated
extra session would begin about
the first of October and run along
into the regular session, and that
the questions of revenue and taxa
ton would receive attention first.
Another reason why it is deemed
eNpedicnt to make the Fiftieth
Congress take advantage Of extra
time is the fact that the next wear
will be devoted largely to President
making. Although it seems but
yesterday since Mr.. Cleveland was
inauguratcd, yet, only fifteen
months from now, will the Nation
al Convention be held to nominate
his successors. The two great par
ties in Congress, when they assem-
bic after the holiday recess, will be
surcharged with politics, and every
movement that Is made at either
end Of the Capitol will have more or
less reference to candidates and
politics and the issues of the ensu-
campaign.
Between the friends of the Adj
ministration on the one hand, in
tent or maintaining its credit and
v~indicating its record, and the OPP
poncnts Of the Administration on
the other, eager to disparage it IN
the confidence Of the pe0plc-bc-
tween combinations here and COM
binatiOns there in the interest Of
rival aspirant-thc Capitol will par
far more Of the character OF
an arena of partisan controversy
than of serious end disinterested
for the welfare Of the county.
Considering all this, the friends of
the Administration feel that the
President would be entirely justi-
fled in promoting u" chances of
legislation which th> public inte-
rests demand by the call of an eX-
ira session.
President C!cveland's care and
industry in reading all bills, great
and small, and examining them
before signing his name
to them, has been criticised as an
unnecessary assumption Of labor
on the part Of the Chief Executive.
1t is quite certain Mr.. Cleveland
has taken more pains in this res
poet than any Of his predecessors,
and it cannot be said that any Of
assistants ever wrote his sigma
Eure to enacted laws. This respon-
he never delegated to q
member Of his Cabinet even in the
Of unimpOrtant bills.
On the 4th of March, 1885, when
Mr.. Arthur and his Cabinet arriv-
Ad at the Capitol and entered the
room where, on the ia
Dle>, in large piles lay the bills to
which his signature was to be amx-
I'd, one pen tor the President was
lot enough. Half q dozen more
)ens were called for, the door was
Ocked (the Inauguration ceremo-
lies were then waiting) and in n
'~emarkably short space of time
very one Of the bills had Mr.. Ar
name to it. AT the State De-
'artmcnt where they can be exam
ned, the signatures to the bills of
het date show a variety Of pen